Chorkie - Top 10 Interesting Facts

1) Designer dog breed
The Chorkie is a designer dog breed which is an intentional crossbreed between two different purebred breeds. The two breeds that are used for developing a Chorkie are Chihuahua and Yorkshire Terrier and just like with all the crossbreeds, the Chorkie can take on the breed characteristics of either or both parent breeds.

2) Origin
Of course, there could have been mixes of Chihuahua and Yorkies a long time ago, but it was not until the 1990s when the Chorkies started to be bred intentionally. The goal of the breeding was to create very small dog – like Chihuahua with active and feisty personality – like Yorkshire Terrier.

3) Appearance
There is no guaranteed appearance of the Chorkie, since they can inherit different traits from both of their parents, which means that some can look little bit more like Chihuahua and some little bit more like Yorkie. But most commonly, the height is between 15-23 cm which is 6-9 inches and weight between 3-5 kgs, which is 6-11 pounds.

4) Coat
Great fact is, that the Chorkie has very often low shedding coat, especially if they inherit the Yorkishire Terriers coat. They can have both, fluffy or straight coat and the most common colors are brown, white, silver, blue, and black. They can be in single solid color or mix of two or more colors.

5) Separation Anxiety

This is very social dog who wants to be around its owners and family all the time and do everything with them. If you will leave a Chorkie home alone for long periods of time, they might develop a separation anxiety. They are okay with other pets, which might be good if you want to leave them alone from time to time. On the other hand, i would not leave them alone with young children, since this is a fragile dog who can get injured very easily, especially if the kid is still young enough and he does not know how to act properly and gently towards dogs.

6) Loyalty
Chorkies are very loyal to their owners, which sounds great, but it can cause some problems. Because of their loyalty, they might be little bit overprotective or they might try to scare away strangers or other dogs, even if they are much much bigger. That is why early socialization is a must, so they dont suffer from this behaviour.

7) Temperament
The words that describe the best Chorkies temperament are active, fun to be around, loyal, loving, goofy, intelligent and excited. It is true that they are very intelligent and eager to please, but they are not pushovers to train, because of their stubborn streaks. But with patient and firm training, they are definitely capable of learning a lot of tricks and commands.

8) Health
Chorkies tend to be pretty healthy dogs with average lifespan between 11-15 years. Just like with all dogs, they do suffer from some health problems, most commonly from ear and eye infections, patellar luxation, epilepsy, hypoglycemie and skin problems.

9) Maintenance
As i already mentioned in the video, the Chorkie tends to be very low shedding dog, even though it is not guaranteed. The maintenance is not extremely hard, only ocassional, lets say weekly brushing is needed. You should také proper care about the eyes and ears and clean it if needed, because Chorkies tend to suffer from eye and ear infections.

10) Exercise
It is true, that this is active and energetic dog breed, but thanks to their small size, they dont need tons of exercise. Daily walks are a must, but other than that, you can deal with they energy with good indoor playtime or training session.